Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:05] Hey everybody, it is Lauren, and I'm doing this episode solo of the Llamas podcast. I am currently just getting back from vacation and Lacey just got back from her Italy trip, so we're trying to get caught up on everything. So this what I'm gonna do solo. And this one's going to be more legal for you because I'm actually hosting at my law firm a POA Day where we're pushing it to people about to go off to college and those type things or kids turning 18 to get those documents in place. So that's what I'm going to talk about mostly today. So it's not going to be as fun or exciting, but it's going to be something I think we all need to hear about.
[00:00:48] But first, I kind of wanted to do a little pop culture roundup right now because I think a lot has happened. I guess not so much pop culture, just things going on in the world that I kind of wanted to talk about for a second and get Yalls thoughts on. So first, let's talk about how Murdaugh got assigned a judge. So what that means is Murdoch was assigned a judge. She's a female, she's out of Columbia. I'm sad it's not somebody up here in Spartanburg because I would love to go sit there every day and watch. But he's assigned a judge, so everything in that is going to go through that judge.
[00:01:24] So they have pre trial motions and I think that's pretty awesome because it keeps one person on the case. And also it's going to help with judicial efficiency and those type things because as you'll see, sometimes if you have a motion in front of one judge and then you have a case in front of the other, it takes them a little bit to get caught up. But that's usually how stuff works. So it's pretty cool the way it's happening this time. So it's good that's moving forward. We're going to see how all that plays out in South Carolina. That was a big thing that happened also.
[00:01:55] We've had the run, they've had elections happen. And so we saw. I don't normally talk about politics or anything, but I thought it was interesting. You know, Alan Wilson is going forward and he is going to the runoff that happens Tuesday.
[00:02:14] And he was involved in the Murdaugh trial. So it kind of all wraps in. It kind of surprised me because I think a lot of people don't think he handled the Murdoch trial well. But I guess that and politics Are, you know, kind of different things. So there's that.
[00:02:27] And one election I did want to talk about was the mayor election with Spencer Pratt.
[00:02:33] I have no idea what party he's for. I have no idea what he stands for. I have no idea whatsoever. But I was sad he lost, because as a millennial, and I grew up watching the Hills, he was the villain. But I kind of feel he's tried to, like, you know, undo his villain arc. And, I mean, it's. Him and Heidi have been married for, what, 20 years now or something? So, like, they've gone the distance and all of this. And I was kind of supporting him to see how he turned out. Granted, he is crazy, but I felt. I don't know, I just felt on that one that I wanted him to win. Kind of outside for him. I'm currently reading his autobiography to get a little more into him. I don't know why me and my husband have bought Pratt daddy crystals. For some reason, we just. I don't know. We like Heidi and Spencer for some reason. So I was a little sad he lost. But switching gears, let's talk about powers of attorney.
[00:03:29] So I don't know how many of you out here have thought about this. I know a lot of our viewers are probably not in the normal demographic of my estate planning, which is usually retired elderly people, which I love and I'm so happy to work with. But a power of attorney is something we all need because none of us are guaranteed to have a happy, healthy tomorrow. I could go out of here and be in an accident and be in the hospital for a few months and need somebody to handle stuff for me.
[00:03:58] So in most states, and I'm going to say this is South Carolina, typically specific, but I think, you know, the overall concept of things is you need a power of attorney no matter where you are, because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow to be happy, healthy. And, you know, once you're 18, you're an adult. So that's kind of our push right now is going for people who are about to go to college.
[00:04:21] Because, you know, if you're on a car trip and end up in the hospital, there may be issues with them talking to your parents because you don't have a power of attorney to allow them to discuss HIPAA stuff with your parents. Maybe, you know, I was in the band. If the band bus had gotten a wreck and I was in the hospital, legally, could they have told stuff to my parents because there wasn't a HIPAA release signed or there wasn't a Health care power of attorney in place.
[00:04:50] What if I needed to withdraw from classes because of an accident, but the registrar couldn't talk to my mom because I hadn't done a financial power of attorney? So that's one thing that is really our push right now is because once you're 18, you're an adult, you have to make those phone calls to schedule those doctor's appointments yourself. And maybe we just don't want to do that. We want mom and dad to still help us a lot.
[00:05:13] So that's one thing we're really focusing on now is the fact you're 18, you're an adult. I will say there are schools out there pushing their students to go ahead and do these documents and put them in their portals.
[00:05:24] One of those I know around here is Clemson, and I think it's awesome they're doing this because it's getting students prepared, it's having factors in place that if something were to happen, we have somebody there to make decisions for us.
[00:05:40] So in our state of South Carolina, there's two types of power of attorneys. There's a medical one and there's a financial one.
[00:05:48] So the financial one, you know, is still really important to have because that's the one that's going to deal with if I need to withdraw from school or say your parents are paying the balance of your school account without that power of attorney, they can't talk to them even though they're the ones footing the bill. So but that deals with everything financial.
[00:06:06] And then if there's a medical side of things, there's a health care power of attorney. So in our state, we have most two different documents. And I think they're both really important to have because we need, if we become incapacitated without that, you're going to end up inside of a court proceeding doing like a guardianship and a conservatorship, which can be thousands of dollars and really emotionally tolling, exhausting. We have to get doctors involved and all this type stuff. So by having these documents ahead of time, we are stopping from having to go through the really expensive stuff. So say you pay 250, hit your power of attorney, but then you're in an accident, your mom or dad can step in and things for you where you don't have to go through the court proceedings with like a conservatorship, which could be 2 and $3,000 easy.
[00:06:56] So I just kind of want to tell you about situations where I think it really matters. So a lot of times married couples are like, I Don't need a power of attorney. We have joint bank accounts. I hear that all the time. It's not true because what about that individual retirement account you have that 401k you have and say you get dementia, but your spouse needs to be able to access those funds for your care. They cannot Talk to the 401k people or IRA people without a power of attorney. So I've seen that. I've had to go to court and get conservatorships and somebody's had to get bonded over this money where if they just had a power of attorney, this would have been easy and they could have pulled the money out.
[00:07:35] I've seen it in situations at schools where a kid gets mono, needs to withdraw and they have to go do all the paperwork. They didn't give mom or dad power of attorney.
[00:07:45] I have seen medical situations where they haven't talked to the parent because there's no power of attorney.
[00:07:53] And day to day people are kind of always scared to do this. They're like, I don't want to give somebody authority over me. It's not stopping you from acting. There are different types of powers of attorney. There's a durable, which means it's active now and survives incapacity. And there's a springing one that means it's not going to come into play until there is incapacity. Most of the time I do, I'm durable because if I trust the person now, I'm going to trust them. When I'm incapacitated, I just think it's easier. We don't have to get doctors involved, we don't have to get state statements and a lot of financial institutions want to have those done that way as well. But that's one thing that I think is so important and we overlook it. We get so worried about like when I die, who's going to get my stuff? That's just stuff. I know it's important, but I think one of the bigger things is while I'm alive, who's going to help me? Who's going to make those decisions for me? And you know, the nice thing about these documents, they're changeable, they're revocable. Because right now going off to college is probably your parent or sibling. And then as life changes, maybe you get married or you know, maybe you have your own kids and they become adults, you're gonna update it to those situations. This stuff is not set in stone until you are incapacitated. So you know, you have the right to change it. And that's one thing. Don't be scared to change your documents if you need to now. Don't be like, willy nilly and changing them every week. Like, she pissed me off, so I'm gonna take her off as my healthcare power of attorney. But, you know, as life changes, maybe originally you put your mom on there and your mom's 80 years old now, so you want to update and maybe put a sibling or your own child.
[00:09:28] And that's the thing. I think people get nervous about doing it at 18, 19 because they're like, well, I don't want my mom and dad in all my business forever. You don't have to. You can always change it. But the thing is, they're going to be in your business if something happens, but they're going to have to go through a court proceeding. So it's just so much easier to get this done. And I know this is not like a fun podcast topic that you know, but this kind of goes along. Our actual Power Attorney day at my firm is June 25th. So this is going to be, you know, around that time. So it's really been on my mind and it's been something that is important and dear to me because I've seen the downside of you not doing the power of attorney. I've seen people have to go through these court proceedings and have to go through this heartache and expense and time consuming when it could have easily been avoided by just doing the power of attorney. If something's happened and you're in a medical crisis, you don't want to put a burden on your family of having to go through a guardianship if they don't need to, where you could have just done these documents.
[00:10:32] So while this has mostly been South Carolina specific, I think the concept applies, you know, everywhere. Do proactive planning is kind of like how I tell people, you know, it's like a band aid. You want to get it done and you rip it off and it's over. It's not nearly as hard as people make it out to be. And I will tell you, if you come to estate planning attorneys, most of us are pretty easygoing people. We're gentle people.
[00:10:58] We're here to help you. It's not, we want to get done what you want to get done. So I think it's important to get these documents done while you are mentally competent to do so. And that's another thing. I know I've been pushing this from, you know, a college perspective, but also from an elder perspective. If you're Dealing with parents who are starting to get dementia or issues. You don't want to put this off to the point where they can't make their own decisions. You have to do these documents while you are mentally competent to do so. So I think in all of this, we want to be proactive. We want to plan while we have the right mind set to do. So we want to do it while we're in a good headspace, and we want to get it done professionally. Most of the time going on ChatGPT or legal Zoom is not how you typically want to do these. It's worth the money to have a professional do it right, so in the future, it's not screwed up. And if something does go wrong, you have somebody to go to to help you get through the hard times.
[00:11:57] So while I know this isn't our typical. And this is going to be a shorter one, because I don't want to talk about this all day, but I think it's important. I think, you know, have that conversation with your kids going off to college or have that conversation with your aging parents.
[00:12:14] We need to get this done. This isn't just for my benefit, but this is for yours. So you get to put who you want to be in charge if something were to happen where you're incapacitated.
[00:12:25] I think these are always good things to talk about, too, when you're about to be traveling out of the country and those type things like if something goes wrong while you're there and you can't get back, who has power of attorney to sign documents on your behalf in the interim?
[00:12:37] And I just think it's a really important thing that we talk about and do with our family. And I know it's not always fun to sit down and have those hard conversations, but, you know, do it. Rip that band aid off, handle it for your family.
[00:12:56] So that's kind of wrapping up what I wanted to talk about today. I know it's just like my TED Talk here on how it's important. It's not really a fun podcast conversation, but in the future, I've watched some really cool Netflix. Not cool. Disturbing, I guess is the better word. Netfit, Netflix documentaries, and those type things where I saw the maternal instinct. So if y' all watch that, I'm sure we'll do a podcast episode. There's also, like, YouTube videos on it that go even deeper. So that's something excited to talk about. Man, Lacy should be back together soon, because I know it's more fun when we have each other to talk on. And we're looking to get some cool guests on here in the future, so, you know, keep joining in. I know this wasn't our fun exciting, but this was educational. So let us know what you want to learn about in the future, in the legal side of things, and let us know what you're into, what we can talk about, and, you know, thoughts and prayers to Spencer Pratt and his loss, because I do feel sorry for him because I was Team Spencer. But if y' all need anything, let us know what's going on with you so we can do some podcasts for your benefit. We will see you next time.
